TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Monday, September 14, the 258th day of 2020. There are 108 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1812 — Napoleon Bonaparte enters Moscow and Russians set fires throughout the city.
1814 — Francis Scott Key writes America’s national anthem, The StarSpangled
Banner.
1868 — Golf’s first recorded holeinone is scored by Scotsman Young Tom Morris at Prestwick’s 166yard eighth hole during the British Open Championships in Scotland, which he won. His victory was the first of four successive British Open titles and, aged 17, he is still golf’s youngest winner of a major championship. His father, Old Tom Morris, finished second.
1894 — Mahuta Tawhiao becomes the third Maori king.
1901 — United States president William McKinley dies from his wounds after being shot by an assassin on September 6. He was succeeded in office by Theodore Roosevelt.
1927— Modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan dies in Nice, France, when her scarf becomes entangled in a wheel of her sports car.
1938 — The Social Security Act passes into law. It is designed to provide a welfare programme for New Zealanders ‘‘from the cradle to the grave’’. It was devised by Otago men Dr David Gervan McMillan and the Rev Arnold Nordmeyer.
1939 — Tethered by cables, the first test flight of Igor Sikorsky’s experimental helicopter the VS300 takes place in Stratford, Connecticut. The first ‘‘free’’ flight of the VS300 occurred on May 13, 1940. The VS300 was the first successful singlelifting rotor helicopter in the US and the first successful helicopter to use a single verticalplane tail rotor configuration for antitorque. With floats attached, it became the first practical amphibious helicopter. The VS300 was retired to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, in 1943, where it remains on display.
1941 — The grandstand at Dunedin’s Logan Park is destroyed by fire. An incinerated body is later discovered and valuable plant and equipment are lost in the blaze.
1946 — Fred Allen (Auckland) captains the All Blacks to a 318 victory over Australia at Carisbrook, before a crowd of 30,000. It is an allnew All Black side playing its first test in eight years. Allen went on to be an undefeated coach of the All Blacks.
1949 — India’s Constituent Assembly adopts Hindi as an official language. It is celebrated today as Hindi Day.
1956 — The first prefrontal lobotomy is performed in the US; weighing over a ton, IBM introduces the RAMAC 305, the first commercial computer with a hard drive using magnetic disk storage.
1960 — Teal’s remaining Solent flying boat, RMA Aranui, completes its final journey when it lands at Mechanics Bay, Auckland. The Coral Route service was the last scheduled international flyingboat service in the world; Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela form the Organisation of PetroleumExporting Countries (OPEC).
1968 — New Zealand pacer Cardigan Bay wins $US7500 in a race in the US, becoming the first horse in the history of trotting to win over $US1 million in stakes. The racehorse is retired to New Zealand shortly after.
1969 — Although not opened for a further two years, the first water flows through the Manapouri power station.
1975 —The Maori land march Te Roopu o te Matakite, led by Whina Cooper, sets out from Te Hapua in Northland.
2001 — Ansett, Australia’s secondbiggest airline, collapses, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and placing 60,000 jobs in jeopardy.
2006 — Germany ordains its first rabbis since World War 2, an event hailed as a milestone in the rebirth of Jewish life in the nation.
2015 — At 18 years and 142 days, New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko becomes the youngest winner of a women’s major championship when she wins the Evian Championship in France.
2017 — The fuel pipeline between Marsden Point and Auckland is ruptured by a digger, prompting a “fuel crisis” and flight disruptions from Auckland Airport.
Today’s birthdays:
John Bryce, New Zealand politician (18331913); Alexander Walker Reid, New Zealand inventor/entrepreneur (18531938); Robert Scott, New Zealand railway engineer (18611930); Alexander Turnbull, New Zealand librarian (18681918); Mollie Tripe, New Zealand artist (18701939); Eve Sutton, New Zealand author (190692); Sir Edward Norman, New Zealand Anglican bishop (191687); John HallJones, New Zealand physician/historian (19272015); Nicol Williamson, British actor (19362011);
Stuart Chambers, New Zealand ornithologist/publisher (1937); Fred
Thomas, New Zealand amateur wrestler (1938); Joey Heatherton, US actress (1944); Sam Neill, New Zealand actor (1947)Jeff Crowe, New Zealand cricketer (1958); Anna Archibald, New Zealand alpine skier (1959); Gwen Adshead, New Zealandborn forensic psychotherapist/academic (1960); Faith Ford, US actress (1964); Kimberly WilliamsPaisley, US actress (1971); Rebecca Sowden, New Zealand football international (1981); Andrew Lincoln, English actor (1973); Amy Winehouse, British singer (19832011);
Pana Hema Taylor, New Zealand actor (1989); Jessica Brown Findlay, English actress (1989).
Quote of the day:
‘‘When you borrow money, you should always think about how you’re going to pay it back.’’ — Dmitry Medvedev, Russian politician, who was born on this day in 1965.
ODT and agencies